Description

392/0/10202 YORK STREET
04-FEB-08 3-5 (ODD)

II
Pair of semi-detached C18 townhouses converted into tenements in the C19. Mellow brick, Flemish Bond, sandstone eaves cornice, Welsh slate roof. 3 storeys plus basement and attic. 5 bays. Some surviving 6-over-6 sash windows, ridge stacks to gable ends (that to right rebuilt and altered into stepped stack). No.3 to the left, no.5 to the right.

PLAN: Hallway alongside party wall with front reception room and rear reception room. Main stairs rise from rear of each hall. Plan replicated to basement and upper floors with rear stairs, large front room and smaller rear room.

EXTERIOR: Main elevation: Paired arched doorways (accessed by short stone stair) to centre, covered fanlights, flat hood supported on carved consoles. No.3 retains original 6-panel door although covered over with plyboard on the exterior. Original door to no.5 might also survive beneath later plyboard but this could not be confirmed. Central windows to first and second floors boarded over (probably carried out when the building was converted into semi-detached houses), slightly lowered second floor windows to no.5, those to no.3 slightly raised. Original 6-over-6 sashes to ground and first floor of no.3 (lower sashes to ground floor have been partially bricked up on the exterior to prevent vandalism), all remaining windows with later replaced glazing. Ground floor windows to no.5 replaced with large opening containing partially glazed delivery doors underneath timber lintel. Four later small square windows inserted at attic level, two dormer windows to roof. All windows (except those to attic and ground floor of no.5) with rendered gauged brick lintels, sandstone sills. Basement windows and steps covered over with metal sheeting. Rear elevation: Blocked/boarded over window openings, large bow window to ground floor of no.3 (now bricked up on interior but 6-over-6 sashes retained to exterior, glazing lost). 2-storey outrigger to rear of no.3. Further outbuilding believed to exist to rear of no.5.

INTERIOR: Original timber floorboards, lath & plaster ceilings, door architraves, two main timber dog-leg stairs with stick balusters (that to no.5 has lost small section of steps between first and second floor), original 4 and 6-panel doors, plank and batten doors (mainly to uppermost floors), moulded cornicing to ground floor rooms, nearly all fireplace surrounds/ranges. Entrance hall to no.3 with arch flanked by pilasters; that to no.5 is plain. Front reception rooms to nos. 3 & 5 with moulded cornicing, original skirtings, altered C18 timber fire surround with inserted mid C20 electric fire to no.3. Temporary C20 partition walls inserted to rear right corner of no.3's front reception room. Rear room to no.3 with moulded cornicing, large bow window (now bricked up), late C18/early C19 fire surround. Rear room to no.5 with blocked up window in rear wall, hatch in floor provides secondary access into basement. Upper floors: Doors inserted (early-mid C19) into party wall on each landing to create access between properties. Arched entrances into first floor front rooms. Front first floor room to no.3 with C18 moulded timber fire surround (hearth covered by plyboard), C20 doorway in S wall connects to front room of no.5. Large disused C20 ventilation pipe inserted through ceiling passes into second floor room above, then into rear second floor room. Altered C18 timber fire surround with inserted C19 range to front second floor room of no.3, rear attic room to no.5 with original C18 grate and hearth, remaining rooms with early C19 cast-iron ranges (inserted when the properties were converted into tenements). Alcoves flank chimneybreasts to some rooms.

Outrigger: Accessed through ground floor door behind main stair in no.3. Stone flag floor. Curved wall to left side. Intermediary floor removed. First floor cast-iron range remains in situ along with adjacent doorway leading into first floor of rear part of outrigger. Ground floor door in E wall leads into rear part of outrigger (not accessible). First floor door in W wall originally provided access from main stair half-landing into outrigger (now covered over on the stair side). Blocked up window openings to N wall.

Basement: Short timber basement stair beneath main stair in no.5 leads into shared basement, stair to no.3 removed but entrance door underneath main stair remains. Brick floors. Large brick range to front room of no.3, rear room with curved rear wall mirroring that of ground floor bow window above. Extremely large range with decorative timber overmantle and carved consoles with foliage designs to front room of no.5. Rear room with stone shelving.

HISTORY: Nos. 3-5 York Street are believed to have been constructed in the mid C18 and are depicted on a map dating to 1769. The properties were possibly originally constructed as a single 5-bay house that was converted into a pair of semi-detached houses by the time of the publication of Horwood's map of Liverpool in 1803 (two properties are depicted on the 1803 map). They are located near to the site of the first purpose-built dock in Liverpool known as Steers Dock (now in-filled and built upon), which was constructed in 1715.
In the early-mid C19 the two properties were combined through the insertion of doorways on the landings of each floor and were tenemented with a different occupier(s) living in each room. Most of the former house bedrooms had kitchen ranges inserted at this time. The properties remained in use as tenements until the mid C20 although part of the ground and first floors was then also in use as premises for a carpentry business.
The tenements are believed to have been owned during the C19 by sea captains who lodged on the ground floor, whilst the remaining rooms were rented to seafarers including Irish immigrants, and a small number of Liverpudlian families.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
Nos.3-5 York Street are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* They are an important and rare survival of a pair of C18 semi-detached townhouses converted into tenements in the early-mid C19
* They retain elements from both their earlier Georgian origins and later development in the C19 and C20
* The original C18 plan form of the townhouses survives intact
* Many original features survive including the original C18 stairs, fireplace surrounds, doors, cornicing, some windows and C19 ranges
* The buildings highlight the development and changing face of the internationally important port of Liverpool through the C18 to C20 from a wealthy residential area to an industrial and commercial area with poorer inhabitants as the port expanded and the wealthy moved out of the city centre
* The buildings' adaptation and re-use in the C19 and C20 characterises the social and economic changes that have taken place within the port
* Special historic interest is provided by the continual use of the buildings by those closely involved with the port, from the wealthy merchants in the C18 to the sea captains, seafarers and Irish immigrants who lived in the tenements during the C19 and C20

Reasons for Listing

* They are an important and rare survival of a pair of C18 semi-detached townhouses converted into tenements in the early-mid C19
* They retain elements from both their earlier Georgian origins and later development in the C19 and C20
* The original C18 plan form of the townhouses survives intact
* Many original features survive including the original C18 stairs, fireplace surrounds, doors, cornicing, some windows and C19 ranges
* The buildings highlight the development and changing face of the internationally important port of Liverpool through the C18 to C20 from a wealthy residential area to an industrial and commercial area with poorer inhabitants as the port expanded and the wealthy moved out of the city centre
* The buildings' adaptation and re-use in the C19 and C20 characterises the social and economic changes that have taken place within the port
* Special historic interest is provided by the continual use of the buildings by those closely involved with the port, from the wealthy merchants in the C18 to the sea captains, seafarers and Irish immigrants who lived in the tenements during the C19 and C20

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671613

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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